Now that Mother’s Day has passed and school is nearly out, summer is around the corner. As much as I love summer, I must confess I don’t necessarily love the heat that comes with it. The other part of summertime I don’t like is having higher bills from trying to keep cool. If you have […]

Summer is fast approaching which means school lessons will soon be at an end. Kids will excitedly make their escapes from cramped classrooms for the last time until next fall. For the first few days they’ll likely be busy burning off excess pent up energy. Still, within a short time, some will inevitably mutter the […]

As I worked on my computer this morning, my husband and our good friends worked cattle. My husband taught their kids how to show their steers for the fair this summer. In turn, they helped us plant new windbreak trees on our farm later in the afternoon. Today’s give and take among friends got me […]

Just about everybody has a habit or two they would like to change. I confess that I have definitely developed a few over the years. Thankfully there are some I have successfully broken or changed. Unfortunately, like most other people, I have a few I am still working on. But the bad habits that deserve […]

Shopping for Christmas presents to give to friends and family is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. It ranks right up there with baking cookies and trimming the tree. I love to see the smiles they give me when the gift they opened is just the right one for them. But shopping for holiday […]

Time is supposed to be a constant, but I’m not sure I believe it. Fall seems to have arrived faster than ever this year. Not only that, but Halloween is just around the corner, and the other holidays will follow shortly thereafter. One thing I used to struggle with during the holidays is how to […]

When you’re working hard to cut expenses, save on your budget, and reduce debt, each extra dollar you can put toward your bills feels like a win. This is especially true if you have had bad spending habits in the past. As you pay debt, another thing you may find yourself constantly doing is looking […]

Autumn is my favorite time of year because there are a lot of really great things to enjoy about it. For example, temperatures begin to cool off a bit and there are lots of fall vegetables available to make yummy after-harvest dishes. The leaves start changing and so do the menus of some of my […]

I don’t know what the arrangement is for who pays the bills in your household, but in mine it’s my husband. My contribution is to work and bring in money to help pay the bills and reduce our debt. No matter who pays the bills in your home, though, there are lots of ways to […]

Problem solving and creative solutions are sometimes the very things that keep a budget in line. I believe that bartering is one way we humans found to problem solve and get creative centuries ago. For example, the fairytale of “Jack and the Beanstalk”, which originated in the year 1734, is a classic story that begins […]

Many people believe that about half of all marriages end in divorce. In fact, those statistics have been quoted by a great number of people for years. However, according to a recent article in Psychology Today, those figures are not necessarily correct. The article goes on to hint that there is controversy over the true […]

When it comes to managing our finances, Iíve got one trick for keeping it simple: The percentage. Itís the baseline for virtually any financial decision Iím about to make.† The ìpercentageî can either be how much money Iím going to make, or it could be how much money I stand to lose. Either way, determining […]

Trust forms the bedrock of personal finance advisory services. All investors want peace of mind when it comes to the handling of their money. Nobody wants to be swindled out of their hard-earned money, and that’s why credible personal financial advisors are so highly sought after. For many people, personal financial advisors are crucial to […]

This is a post from Pauline of InvestmentZen.com Summer is just a few months away, and as bikini diets are on the covers of so many magazines, I thought I’d cover little things you can do to get your financial fitness back on as well. The new energy brought by spring is a great time […]

This is a guest post by Jon Dulin from Money Smart Guides. There is a saying that goes around that seems to be more common among our households these days: There is more month at the end of the money. A survey of households revealed that about one in three aren’t able to save money each […]

As Americans, we are wasteful. If something breaks, most times we toss it in the trash and go buy a new one. While this makes life fairly easy, it does tend to cost us more money in the long run. If we instead figure out ways to repair or fix our broken items, we can […]

Shopping for clothes can be extremely tricky, if you care about how you look, how your clothing feels, and depending on the job you have. Luckily, the holidays are right around the corner, and do you know what that means? Sales on clothes! Depending on what you’re looking for, some times of the year are […]

As you may already know by now, I listen to a lot of pop music, partly because it’s fun to listen to and partly because I have a 2 hour commute and can only handle talk radio and podcasts so long before I just need background noise. So it should come as no surprise that […]

Young Americans are more likely to live with their parents, with 32% of people ages 18-34 living in their parents’ houses, according to the Pew Research Center. This is partly because of the Great Recession, but also because wages are stagnating or falling, leaving more people under- or unemployed. It’s clear that moving into Mom […]

Life has a funny way of kicking you when you’re down sometimes. As you’ll know from my previous posts, my husband and I recently bought a house, and it’s been expensive. We knew that going in, but several more emergencies have popped up since we bought the home and began some light remodeling. On that […]

This blog is for informational purposes only. Any advice given does not constitute a relationship and is by no means fact. The information and advice given on this site is only an opinion and should be confirmed with a finance or tax professional.